dgodave

Its the spittin image of mine, right down to the Zefal pump, minus a couple inches of frame. See my pm, if interested.
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robatsu

Here is today's bit o' progress on the 620.

Installed Dura Ace SL-7700 downtube shifters. Front is friction only, rear offers both friction and 9 speed indexing:



Put on a Nitto Jaguar NJSP-72 2 Bolt Seatpost:



NJS sends a delicious tingle up my leg:



Takes a careful eye to see these differences from afar, but the Trek 620 is ever so slightly beginning to shape up. The black leather saddle is for demo purposes only, final saddle will be different, I just couldn't bring myself to put the Avocet back on:

realestvin7

620's are the bomb.

thenomad

good work, it'll look way better when you replace the bars.
Did you go with 700c wheels on your other one? I believe the stock brakes are some of the few that actually make the conversion work.

dirge23

I love it. I got a 24" 1985 Trek 620 on eBay recently for a few hundred bucks, and I'm building it up, basically replacing every component along the way. Mine doesn't look as pretty -- the paint is scratched and scraped and dinged everywhere -- but structurally it's in great shape.

If anybody asks me why I chose this bike, I'm going to send them to your Fuji Otaku post about it. It's gold.

RobE30

I wish my 620 was a 58! Alas it is not, so it will be going to taller company

robatsu

I ran 27" on my old one, actually made up a set of 27" wheels for it, very eclectic - campagnolo c-record rear, schmidt dynohub front, on polished sun cr-18.

Something to understand about the brakes on these is it isn;t not the height difference alone, but also that the cantilever post spacing is narrower on the front, I measure mine around 58mm. Even if you stick with 27" wheels a lot of modern cantilever brakes won't work on the front.

But I set up my wife's 720 w/700 wheels and learned a lot about cantilever brake geometry. I finally got hers set up with some Tektro Frogleg knockoffs, but it was ugly.

Early Deore brakes, with threadless posts and the little black plastic toe in adjuster are the best - they allow up and down movement and they are designed so that the pad attachment point is directly above the post in a normal configuration. Modern cantilevers, designed for wider spacing, typically have this well inboard and, in addition to height issues, this is what creates a lot of problems.

Some of the modern brakes do look like they would work, so the situation isn't as bad as it sounds. Just looking at them, the Shimano CT91M looks like a good bet.

As for the bars, yeah, they are going. Funny thing though, they look a lot worse in the pictures than in reality for some reason.

rekmeyata

Next to the Trek 720, that was one of the most widely used touring bikes made and they held up excellently. A great bike and a great find.

dirge23

Some previous owner of my 620 switched out the Helicomatic hubs for Shimano hubs, so the 27" wheels are pretty acceptable. I would eventually like to switch them out for 700c so I can get some decent tires wider than 27x1 1/2 on there and switch over to a cassette in the back in order to go to 9 speeds from 7. But this means fiddling with the cantis and maybe spreading the rear dropouts and whatnot, so it's probably more of a long-term project.

fender1

Are you keeping that reflector/cable stop?

robatsu

No, I'm not. It is pretty cool cateye thing, but I like running the bars pretty low, I need a stop w/some drop.

mkeller234

I'm excited to see what you do with this, high budget builds are fun when it's not my money. The EXACT same bike showed up on craigslist today but they are asking $720.00, which is funny... maybe I should offer $620.00.

rekmeyata

I'm not sure what this is worth but I have a Schwinn Le Tour Luxe with canti brakes and 27" wheels, for fun I wanted to see if my 700c wheels would fit so I put them on the Schwinn. They fit fine, even the brakes needing just a minor adjustment of the angle worked great too. So I can't see it being a problem based on my example...maybe another brand bike would have caused a problem? I don't know.

robatsu

It really depends on the bike. The front post spacing on the Trek 620/720 makes it pretty tough, but not impossible to use 700c. Happily, the original brakes work pretty well, but some other modern cantilevers won't work with the spacing even if you stay with the original 27" tires. I learned this from practical experience.

ColonelJLloyd 

I sure hope I'm able to use 700c on the '85 620 I'm going to build up for my dad. Surely I can find the right combo of cantilever and pad. My plan was 700c x 35mm with fenders.

robatsu

These will work. They are black. I apparently got the last two silver sets the other day.

35x700 w/fenders may be tight. I was running 27" on my old 620 and 1-1/4 x 27 w/fenders was pretty snug, but worked without extreme measures. You'll get a couple of millimetres spotted to you by going to 700, so that may work. I don't think I could have run 1-3/8 x 27 w/fenders on my old 620, which was an 85 model.

ColonelJLloyd 

I have a set of these Grand Cru brakes. I'll try these first.

Where is the tightest clearance? Chainstay?

robatsu

I think if you have fenders wide enough for 35 (I was using steel berthoud 40mm), you will have a hard time at the stays and the fork, but I don't have the bike anymore, so...

I set up a set of those tektro's like VO on my wife's 720 which has 700c, but it was pretty ugly. She's ridden a season or two, but I'm going to swap them out for the Xt brakes. I'm less than happy w/the setup, although it does work. Not a lot of margin for error, plus the levers/pads have to be at such angles that the braking isn't really all it could be. You have no up and down adjustment with those other than swiveling the pad up and down. So, yes, they will work, but I can't say you will be happy with the final setup. I ended up having to trim the brake pad posts on the front - the brake had to be opened pretty wide, since the posts are so close together, this moves the arms down (and inward), moving the pad posts outward. On the 720 front, I had to take this to such a degree that the pad post interfered with the straddle wire. Hence, hacksaw. Hence, why I say it is sort of a hackjob setup, I wouldn't do it again.

ColonelJLloyd 

Hmm. Mine have vertical adjustment. But, I hear what you're saying. I can see the spacing being an issue, especially with the included pads. I'll see how it goes and keep an eye out for the Shimanos.

Edit: That wasn't difficult.

rekmeyata

Those canti's are sweet looking and the price was very reasonable. Now I know were to get a set.

robatsu

Is that a wheel's worth or a bike's worth? I couldn't tell.

ColonelJLloyd 

Uh. It said a "set", which indicates the amount to outfit both wheels, but looking closer at the pictures I can't tell. I asked the seller.

RobE30

I had VO 48mm fluted fenders and 700x37 Pasella TG on the 620 without too much issue. The canti's I had were Suntour (can't remember the name) that seemed to line up w/out issue. I'll look again tomorrow

robatsu

Installed Dura Ace HP 7410 Headset:







Anyone got a miracle cure for the heartbreak of mid-80's Trek headbadge pox?

khatfull

Very nice sir! I, sigh, tried to use a 7410 on my Opus IV but there just wasn't enough steerer by about 4mm. It was heartbreak I tell you, heartbreak!